EPA Announces $2.8 Million in Grants to Revitalize Communities in Tennessee

EPA Announces $2.8 Million in Grants to Assess and Cleanup Communities in Tennessee 

Contact:  EPA Region 4 Press Office ([email protected])    

June 24, 2026  

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $2.8 million in Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment and Cleanup (MAC) grants to accelerate the cleanup of polluted sites across Tennessee. With these funds, EPA is investing directly in American communities to clean up and redevelop blighted properties, delivering on the Trump Administration's commitment to ensure that clean air, land, and water go hand-in-hand with economic growth and opportunity.    

"EPA is focused on delivering practical results that transform contaminated properties into clean, valuable spaces that spark economic growth and that directly benefit American families," said Acting Assistant Administrator for Land and Emergency Management Thomas Croci. "Addressing environmental contamination and reusing brownfield properties revitalizes neighborhoods, drives local job creation, and unleashes new economic opportunities. EPA is proud to partner with local communities to ensure they have the cleanest air, land, and water as we power the Great American Comeback."     

 "These brownfield grants represent opportunities to reimagine contaminated properties as assets that meet the needs of communities," said Regional Administrator Kevin McOmber. "When you take a blighted property, clean it up, and bring the community together to figure out how the property should be redeveloped, you can generate a lot of excitement."   

Clean air, land, and water for all Americans is the first pillar of President Trump and Administrator Zeldin's Powering the Great American Comeback initiative. These grants put that commitment into action while simultaneously powering economic growth in communities across the country. Selected applications for the 2026 Brownfield Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup Grants and RLF supplemental funding in Tennessee include:    

• $500,000 Community-wide Assessment Grant to City of Jackson to conduct 12 Phase I and five Phase II environmental site assessments. The target areas for this grant are the Old Hickory/Jackson Plaza Redevelopment Area and the Downtown/Airways Corridor. Priority sites include the 21-acre Jackson Plaza, which contains an abandoned strip mall, the 72-acre Bruce Hardwood/Armstrong Flooring property, which historically manufactured wood flooring, and the 0.28-acre vacant Dudley's Service Station.

• $765,000 Cleanup Grant to Memphis and Shelby County Community Redevelopment Agency to clean up the Former Ibrahim Site City of Memphis. The 3.3-acre cleanup site includes a residential property, a grocery store, a dry cleaners and a gasoline station. The site has been vacant since the 1990s and is contaminated with petroleum, volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

• $1,500,000 Coalition Assessment Grant to Northwest Tennessee Development District to inventory and prioritize sites, develop 13 cleanup plans, facilitate a design charette and support community engagement activities. Assessment activities will focus on City of Dresden and City of Martin. Priority sites include a 2.6-acre former gas station and auto garage in Dresden's downtown commercial center that was destroyed by a 2021 tornado; a 1.81-acre commercial area with a former gas station and other commercial sites and a 10-acre former cotton processing warehouse in Dyer County; and a 25-acre container, timber and rail transload site and the former Unity Christian School in Martin.

Grant recipients with viable cleanup projects ready for work will help communities continue their work to carry out cleanup and redevelopment projects on contaminated brownfield properties.     

View the list of selected applicants here.     

Background 

EPA's Brownfields Program began in 1995 and, once these grants are awarded, will have provided over $3 billion in grant funding to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse. To date, brownfields investments leveraged more than $45 billion in cleanup and redevelopment. Over the years, the relatively small investment of federal funding was able to leverage, from both public and private sources, more than 228,900 jobs. Through fiscal year 2025, on average, $19.47 was leveraged for each EPA Brownfields Grant dollar awarded through multipurpose, assessment, revolving loan fund and cleanup cooperative agreements.    

EPA anticipates that it will make these awards once all legal and administrative requirements are satisfied by selected applicants.   

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